Speaking to media persons, GSIDC Vice Chairman Siddharat Kuncolienkar said that 20 percent of the work remains, which includes footpaths and tiling. “The entire project will be completed by August-end,” he said. Kuncolienkar said GSIDC has till date spent Rs 35 to 38 crore, whereas the estimated cost of the project is Rs 72 crore.
The work has been undertaken by Venkata Rao Infrastructure Company. The project includes the 3-lane concrete road, a lane on the seaside for a cycle track and beautification works like pavements, sit outs, parking, streetlights and landscaping.
A portion of the Miramar-Dona Paula road was dug in 2013 to lay a sewage line in the middle of the road. On completion of this, the road was hot-mixed in January 2014 at a cost of Rs 1.3 crore. The road was again dug to lay a fresh sewage pipeline and yet again to be concretised.
The delays in completion resulted in nuisance and inconvenience to residents and students, leading to social activist Aires Rodrigues approaching Goa State Human Rights Commission (GSHRC) on the issue. GSHRC had pulled up the authorities for the failure to complete the work in a time-bound manner.
Kuncolienkar also announced the ‘National Summit on Smart Cities in the era of Digital India’ to be held in Goa on June 10 and 11.
The summit to be attended by 33 cities selected for the smart city development mission, will dwell on various themes including smart cities, Digital India, Make in India, Swacchh Bharat, AMRUT, etc.
“The two-day summit will focus on the government of India’s vision of transforming India through the Digital India program. The summit and its outcome will be documented and forwarded to the Government of India,” Kuncolienkar said.
